This invention claims priority of the German patent application 100 46 410.6 which is incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to an optical arrangement for illuminating objects. Additionally the invention relates to a double-confocal scanning microscope.
Devices of the generically determinative type are known in practice and are used, for example, in EP 0 491 289 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,085. The two printed publications disclose microscope arrangements in which an object is illuminated and/or detected with the aid of two microscope objectives arranged opposite one another. For illuminating purposes, the illuminating beam path is split into two partial beam paths such that the object can be illuminated simultaneously by light beams running oppositely relative to one another. The light of the two illuminating partial beam paths interferes in the object region, as a result of which the object can be illuminated with an improved resolution capability. The lightxe2x80x94for example fluorescent lightxe2x80x94coming from the object, which is collected by the microscope objectives, now traverses the illuminating partial beam paths in the opposite direction. The light coming from the object is now united at the component splitting the illuminating light, and fed partially to the detector.
The component splitting the illuminating beam path and unifying the detection beam path usually takes the form of beam splitters which are used, for example, in the form of cemented beam splitter cubes. With these components, the incident light is split in equal parts into a beam transmitted in a straight-ahead direction and a beam deflected at the angle of 90 degrees. In the case of detection light which comes from the object and is to be united at the beam splitter cube, the light of each partial beam path is split into a transmitted and a deflected partial beam such that in each case only half of each detection light beam reaches the detector. The other half of the light coming from the object cannot be detected by the detector and is therefore lost and unused.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to configure and develop an optical arrangement which allows a at least largely loss free unification of the light coming from the object to be illuminated.
The object is achieved by an optical arrangement for illuminating a fluorescent object with a confocal scanning microscope, wherein the optical arrangement includes a light source defining an illuminating beam path. The optical arrangement further includes a detector defining a detection beam path, which has a beam cross section active for the detector and encompasses light coming from the object. The optical arrangement further includes a component which splits the illumination beam path into a first and second partial illumination beam and which unifies the detection beam path, wherein the light coming from the object in a first and second partial detection beam is united at least largely in an overlapping fashion into one propagation direction at the component. The optical arrangement further includes means for influencing the phase of the light coming from the object, wherein the means is arranged at least in the first or the second partial detection beam.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a double confocal scanning microscope which allows a largely loss free combination of partial detection beams.
The above object is accomplished by a double confocal scanning microscope which includes a light source defining an illuminating beam path. The double confocal scanning microscope further includes two microscope objectives each of which being arranged on opposite sides of an object. The double confocal scanning microscope further includes a beam deflecting device for scanning the illuminating beam path across the object in two essentially right angles to one another. The double confocal scanning microscope further includes at least one detector defining a detection beam path, which has a beam cross section active for the detector and encompasses light coming from the object. The double confocal scanning microscope further includes a component which splits the illumination beam path into a first and second partial illumination beam and which unifies the detection beam path, wherein the light coming from the object in a first and second partial detection beam is united at least largely in an overlapping fashion into one propagation direction at the component. The double confocal scanning microscope further includes means for influencing the phase of the light coming from the object, wherein the means is arranged at least in the first or the second partial detection beam.